p***@gmail.com
2016-01-28 21:54:00 UTC
You sound like a bit of a twat mate - the type I get in my shop all the time
This afternoon I stopped by my local Taylor dealer, only to discover a brand
new Jewel Kilcher signature model Taylor hanging from the wall.
It's quite striking in a low-key sort of way - it reminded me of both the
Martin EMP-1 and the Tacoma EM-9 with its understated elegance.
The body shape is Taylor's answer to the OM, their x14 size. The one for sale
here in Anchorage has just a killer Sitka spruce top on it, with extensive
silking and a tight grain. But I couldn't figure out what the tonewood on the
back and sides was: it looked almost like a quilted mahogany, but the structure
of the pores was closer to koa, and the color of it (glimpsed through the
soundhole) was more like myrtle.
I picked it up, played it with my bare fingers and it really barked! I was
quite impressive with its tonal balance and suprisingly emphatic bass response.
Digging around in my pockets, I couldn't find a flatpick (which is unusual for
me.) So I went back out front to find one and to ask the sales staff more
about the guitar.
It's one of these stores where there are usually three or four sales clerks
hanging around doing nothing, yet the high end acoustic room is always
deserted. It's as though they're afraid that if they hang out there and answer
customer questions, not only is there a chance that they'll actually sell
something, but they might contract the dreaded "Acoustic Dweeb" syndrome, too.
Next thing you know they'll be playing coffeehouses and writing sensitive
songs: "Here's a song I wrote about why you shouldn't use ivory on musical
instruments..."
So these three headbangers were standing around behind the counter, looking
bored, and so I asked them: "What's the wood on the back and sides of that new
Jewel Kilcher Taylor?"
"I dunno."
"I dunno."
"I dunno."
Then the most helpful of the three (the one with the short haircut and the
hipster goatee) said: "We just got that guitar in two days ago, so we don't
know much about it yet."
Then I asked: "Is there any promotional literature on it, some description I
can read?"
"Nope."
"Nope."
"Nope."
Tired of the vacant looks and near-total apathy of the sales staff, I grabbed a
flatpick from the display headed and headed back to the acoustic room.
I played it with a pick for quite a while longer than I had with my bare
fingers, and was even more impressed with the sound and projection of the
guitar. It really had a voice.
Just as I was hanging the guitar back on the wall, the store manager walked
into the first acoustic room with a couple of Dutch Harbor fishermen in tow.
They'd obviously just shared out from their last fishing voyage, had money in
their pockets and were in the mood to spend, so I certainly didn't to interfere
with his sale. But he gave me an opening when he said: "Hi, Wade."
"Hi, Randy. Do you happen to know what the wood on this Jewel model Taylor
is?"
"Koa" he said without breaking stride.
Yeah, right, I thought, koa with a bad case of Hepatitis C, maybe. But it was
too jaundiced-looking to be any koa I'VE ever seen, and I've seen an immense
amount of koa.
But as Randy and the fishermen walked past me and into the inner acoustic room,
I spotted several copies of the current Taylor publication "Wood & Steel" on a
rack, so I grabbed one.
Needless to say, it had the whole story right there, and - needless to say -
it's not koa, it's satinwood.
I had never seen satinwood on a musical instrument before, which is why I
"Satinwood is a strikingly beautiful hardwood that, as far as we know, has
never been used to make solid-wood guitars. Our stain brings out the wood's
latent "light gold" coloration. Tonally, satinwood is similar to maple, but
with a stronger bottom/bass."
I'm not sure that I would have described the tone in quite the same way: I
might have described it as sounding like "koa lite." But it had an
exceptionally good sound, and I was quite impressed with it.
I went back up front, paid for the flatpick, and said: "Mystery solved, boys -
it's made out of satinwood. Says so right here in the latest issue of "Wood &
Steel." There's a whole stack of these back there, so you can read up on it if
you like."
"Oh, okay," said the guy with the goatee.
The other two didn't bother saying anything....
Anyway, it's a nice guitar - high gloss top, satin finish on the back and
sides, reasonably priced. The price tag on this one was $1598, which I assume
is full list, knowing how my local guys do business. (You can talk them down
if you do some checking beforehand, but they'll make you work for it.)
It had an amazingly mature, full voice for a brand new instrument, and I was
quite impressed, overall. The action was great, it played like a dream, and it
introduced me to a tonewood I didn't know existed.
Which doesn't happen every day, believe me.
So - yeah, I liked it. Nice guitar.
Wade Hampton Miller
new Jewel Kilcher signature model Taylor hanging from the wall.
It's quite striking in a low-key sort of way - it reminded me of both the
Martin EMP-1 and the Tacoma EM-9 with its understated elegance.
The body shape is Taylor's answer to the OM, their x14 size. The one for sale
here in Anchorage has just a killer Sitka spruce top on it, with extensive
silking and a tight grain. But I couldn't figure out what the tonewood on the
back and sides was: it looked almost like a quilted mahogany, but the structure
of the pores was closer to koa, and the color of it (glimpsed through the
soundhole) was more like myrtle.
I picked it up, played it with my bare fingers and it really barked! I was
quite impressive with its tonal balance and suprisingly emphatic bass response.
Digging around in my pockets, I couldn't find a flatpick (which is unusual for
me.) So I went back out front to find one and to ask the sales staff more
about the guitar.
It's one of these stores where there are usually three or four sales clerks
hanging around doing nothing, yet the high end acoustic room is always
deserted. It's as though they're afraid that if they hang out there and answer
customer questions, not only is there a chance that they'll actually sell
something, but they might contract the dreaded "Acoustic Dweeb" syndrome, too.
Next thing you know they'll be playing coffeehouses and writing sensitive
songs: "Here's a song I wrote about why you shouldn't use ivory on musical
instruments..."
So these three headbangers were standing around behind the counter, looking
bored, and so I asked them: "What's the wood on the back and sides of that new
Jewel Kilcher Taylor?"
"I dunno."
"I dunno."
"I dunno."
Then the most helpful of the three (the one with the short haircut and the
hipster goatee) said: "We just got that guitar in two days ago, so we don't
know much about it yet."
Then I asked: "Is there any promotional literature on it, some description I
can read?"
"Nope."
"Nope."
"Nope."
Tired of the vacant looks and near-total apathy of the sales staff, I grabbed a
flatpick from the display headed and headed back to the acoustic room.
I played it with a pick for quite a while longer than I had with my bare
fingers, and was even more impressed with the sound and projection of the
guitar. It really had a voice.
Just as I was hanging the guitar back on the wall, the store manager walked
into the first acoustic room with a couple of Dutch Harbor fishermen in tow.
They'd obviously just shared out from their last fishing voyage, had money in
their pockets and were in the mood to spend, so I certainly didn't to interfere
with his sale. But he gave me an opening when he said: "Hi, Wade."
"Hi, Randy. Do you happen to know what the wood on this Jewel model Taylor
is?"
"Koa" he said without breaking stride.
Yeah, right, I thought, koa with a bad case of Hepatitis C, maybe. But it was
too jaundiced-looking to be any koa I'VE ever seen, and I've seen an immense
amount of koa.
But as Randy and the fishermen walked past me and into the inner acoustic room,
I spotted several copies of the current Taylor publication "Wood & Steel" on a
rack, so I grabbed one.
Needless to say, it had the whole story right there, and - needless to say -
it's not koa, it's satinwood.
I had never seen satinwood on a musical instrument before, which is why I
"Satinwood is a strikingly beautiful hardwood that, as far as we know, has
never been used to make solid-wood guitars. Our stain brings out the wood's
latent "light gold" coloration. Tonally, satinwood is similar to maple, but
with a stronger bottom/bass."
I'm not sure that I would have described the tone in quite the same way: I
might have described it as sounding like "koa lite." But it had an
exceptionally good sound, and I was quite impressed with it.
I went back up front, paid for the flatpick, and said: "Mystery solved, boys -
it's made out of satinwood. Says so right here in the latest issue of "Wood &
Steel." There's a whole stack of these back there, so you can read up on it if
you like."
"Oh, okay," said the guy with the goatee.
The other two didn't bother saying anything....
Anyway, it's a nice guitar - high gloss top, satin finish on the back and
sides, reasonably priced. The price tag on this one was $1598, which I assume
is full list, knowing how my local guys do business. (You can talk them down
if you do some checking beforehand, but they'll make you work for it.)
It had an amazingly mature, full voice for a brand new instrument, and I was
quite impressed, overall. The action was great, it played like a dream, and it
introduced me to a tonewood I didn't know existed.
Which doesn't happen every day, believe me.
So - yeah, I liked it. Nice guitar.
Wade Hampton Miller